Making time, growing slowly, being still, waiting.

When Greg goes to meet his girlfriend's parents in 'Meet the Parents' he takes a gift - a pot full of dirt. When the parents open the present they are disappointed.... as you would be!

However, Greg tells them that the dirt contains one of the rarest seeds in the world and it will grow into a beautiful flower. I can't remember what it is,  I don't know whether it grew, but the potential was there if only they were prepared to wait, care for and nurture that potential for future beauty. 

When you plant a seed you can't see the roots growing under the surface, but you trust they are growing. You water the seed with the hope that they are growing but you don't know for sure if they are until the shoot begins to poke its way through.

As you wait the roots take their own path to reach the best nourishment and the best source of life so that the seed can bloom.

It's in those roots that the potential for growth begins to be realised. 

It's in those roots that a future becomes a possibility.

If you don't want to wait for the roots to establish you could stick in some cut flowers to make it look like its something, but without roots it will wilt and fade. 

Nothing beautiful and lasting will grow if roots are not given time and peace to establish. 

We can measure seasons and dream about when it might happen, but we don't know exactly when it will. 

We can look for the signs.

Watch and wait. 

Give time.

Give space.

Live wisely, plant deeply.

Be Still

Go Slow

Wait on God. 

"There is a time for everything, there's a time for everything that is done on earth". Ecclesiastes 3:1

Slooowwly does it.....

I love eating out. Sitting down with friends, chatting as other people serve us and we savour what is hopefully good food and don't do the washing up afterwards. For me particularly good eating out generally has to be a bit of an experience - the food needs to be good, the atmosphere needs to be right, the company engaging and I do not need to be rushed. 

Never rush me. Please never rush me.

I love the places where I am able to sit and be as I eat - where plates aren't taken away too early and nobody hovers to see if you have finished. The best people to eat out with are those who are happy to take their time and not worried about getting to the next thing. That's not always possible, but long and lazy lunches or dinners are something I really enjoy. The best food is food that is not what you would normally cook at home and brings an element of surprise or pleasure. I love tiramisu and I savour every mouthful as it reaches all of my senses. Desserts are not made to be gobbled down but are made to be savoured.....

I've gradually learned the art of quality and not quantity. It's never about the amount of food you get but it's about the taste, smell, look, feel and even sometimes sound of the food (there is something exciting about the sound of a sizzling dish as it is brought over to your table). 

One of my favourite meals out was in a restaurant in the Algarve. It was bizarrely an English country restaurant (as you do) but was the closest one to the flat in which we were staying. We'd watched the flambeing of the pancakes of the table next door... but then they came to my Creme Brulee (second favourite dessert - the crack, the smoothness) and the waiter put whatever alcohol it was in the jug, set fire to it, and poured the blue flame from jug to jug. It was spectacular. 

My nightmare meal out is at a £3.95 carvery. Pile high, eat fast, cheap food, cattle market. You know what you are going to get, but it's all the same. 

I spotted someone buying a book called 'The Art of Curating Worship' by Mark Pierson and bought it because it looked interesting. He relates this contrast of good and bad eating experiences to our experience in worship. He talks about the 'slow-food movement' which 'involves valuing time to prepare, eat, and build community through food'. He begins to explore what he calls 'slow worship' where worship is based around the culture of the community rather than around a pre-packaged worship meal that is the same all the time. The time taken to prepare, experience and build community through worship is really important. Pierson says that the idea of 'slow worship' might mean that we come to worship with a real expectation that we will encounter God. 

When I eat out I savour the experience. 

When our worship services are clinical or pre-packaged or something to get over with so we can get on with the day then we might as well eat at a cheap carvery..... it'll do, for a moment, but is it an experience worth having?